Coaching practices for Dealing with an Incompetent Colleague on a Project

Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Dealing with an Incompetent Colleague on a Project, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.

Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?

• Someone hits a snag, brings it to me, I say "leave it with me," and somehow the task I delegated is back on my desk
• I hand work off and somehow it keeps boomeranging back onto my plate
• Every time I try to hand something off it boomerangs back to me with questions, or it comes back done wrong, so I’ve quietly decided it’s faster to just do it myself
• I keep dropping problems on my boss’s desk and waiting for them to tell me what to do, and I can feel it reads as me not owning my work
• Someone senior just found out about a change after the fact and was hurt they were the last to know

Practices that may help

1. Resist upward (reverse) delegation
   Don’t let the task you delegated jump back onto your desk the first time it gets hard.
   Effective Delegation, Made Practical
2. Resist reverse delegation (the "monkey back" problem)
   When a report brings you their monkey, don’t take it — send it back with the next step owned.
   Delegation Levels, Made Practical
3. Structured delegation for Q3 tasks
   Hand off urgent-but-not-important tasks with a clear brief, defined success criteria, and a check-in cadence.
   The Eisenhower Matrix and Delegation
4. Bring a proposed solution when you bring a problem
   Describe the problem and your recommended path before asking for a decision.
   Managing Up: Practical Skills for Working with Your Boss
5. Inform stakeholders before they ask, not after they complain
   I’s are one-way — they receive information; the cost of surprising them is always higher than the cost of telling them.
   The RACI Matrix, Made Practical
6. Match the delegation level to the person’s current competence and confidence
   Over-delegate to someone who isn’t ready and they fail; under-delegate and they stagnate.
   Delegation Levels, Made Practical
7. Transfer authority with the responsibility
   Give people the decision rights and resources the task actually requires.
   Effective Delegation, Made Practical
8. Separate the doer (R) from the owner (A)
   The person who does the work is often not the person who owns the outcome — make this explicit.
   The RACI Matrix, Made Practical
9. Assign exactly one Accountable per decision
   Every decision or deliverable must have exactly one A — not zero, not two.
   The RACI Matrix, Made Practical
10. Assess readiness task by task, not person by person
    Rate competence and commitment for the specific task in front of them, not the person overall.
    Situational Leadership, Made Practical

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